Dottie's disaster
Pepper misses 4-foot putt, hands Pak Giant Eagle title
Posted: Wednesday December 02, 1998 05:17 PM
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The victory was Se Ri Pak's fourth of the season and earned her a $120,000 first-place check AP |
HOWLAND, Ohio (AP) -- Se Ri Pak birdied the final hole then
watched as Dottie Pepper missed a 4-footer for birdie to give the
rookie sensation a one-shot victory Sunday in the Giant Eagle LPGA
Classic.
"People told me, 'Playoff.' Then they said, 'You win!' I didn't
know I win," Pak said.
The victory was the 20-year-old South Korean's fourth of the season
and deprived Pepper of her first win since 1996.
Pepper, seeking her 15th career victory and first in 45
tournaments, rolled in a 5-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to
catch Pak at 14 under.
But seconds before Pepper's putt, Pak hit a fairway wood on the
451-yard, par-5 closing hole that hit on the front edge and rolled
to 15 feet short and right of the cup.
Pepper had hit her drive on the final hole and was watching from
the fairway as Pak just missed the eagle putt but tapped in for
birdie to cap a round of 5-under-par 67 to finish at 15-under 201.
Pepper said she was not watching the leaderboards, focusing on
her own play, and wasn't aware of the situation on the final green.
"Amazing," she said. "I had no idea what was going on. When I
saw Se Ri miss her putt, I thought she had missed her birdie. I had
no idea it was for eagle."
Pepper pushed her fairway wood right, but got a favorable bounce
off a hump behind the greenside bunker, the ball rolling to a stop
40 feet right of cup.
Pepper made a charge at what could have been the winning eagle
putt, hitting it 4 feet past the hole. A television camera caught
Pak yawning as she watched the drama.
While Pak turned away to rest in the scorer's tent, Pepper then
rammed the birdie putt past on the right side to give the $120,000
first-place check to Pak.
Pepper thought that she had gotten into a playoff with Pak even
after three-putting.
Not until she saw her caddie, John Killeen, take off his caddie
bib did she realize that she had lost.
Pepper was seeking her 15th career victory and first in 45 tournaments AP | |
"I asked John why he was taking his bib off. I said, 'We're
going back to the tee, aren't we,'" she said as her eyes began to
fill with tears. "He said no."
The victory was the fourth of the year for Pak, who has been on
an incredible tear on the LPGA tour the last month.
After capturing the LPGA Championship -- the year's first
grand-slam event -- Pak has won three of her last four starts. The
streak started with a dramatic 20-hole playoff victory over amateur
Jenny Chuasiriporn in the U.S. Women's Open. A week later, she set
LPGA records for 18-hole score (61), back-to-back rounds (61-63)
and 72-hole total (261) while winning the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic
by nine strokes.
In the Giant Eagle, she had rounds of 65, 69 and 67 had only one
bogey in the tournament.
Pak started the day tied for third, three shots back of
Pepper. But Pepper got off to a rocky start, hitting her drive on
the first hole into a lake and dropping out of the lead with a
double bogey.
Playing in the group ahead of Pepper, Pak was steady, posting
three birdies and her lone bogey on the front side before putting
up birdies at Nos. 10, 15 and 18.
But the final round was more than a two-person struggle.
Robin Walton, who had nine birdies while tying the Avalon Lakes
course record with an 8-under 64, took the early lead at 13 under.
The 18th hole was Walton's undoing. While almost every player in
the field had little difficulty reaching the downwind par-5 in two
shots, she triple-bogeyed it the first day and had pars the last
two rounds.
Her 8 in the first round came when she hit her second shot into
the greenside bunker and failed to get her first sand shot out. She
was assessed a two-stroke penalty when she removed a golf
ball-sized stone from behind her ball before blasting out and
two-putting.
That would come back to haunt her after she ran off five birdies
in a span of seven holes on the back nine. She again faltered at
the 18th, hitting into the sand off the tee and having to get up
and down with a 5-foot putt to save par.
Pak's 7-foot birdie putt at the 10th pulled her even with Walton
and a 6-footer at the 15th gave her the lead by herself -- until
Pepper birdied No. 17 to pull even and set the stage for the
roller-coaster finish.
Walton finished alone in third at 13 under, with Kelly Robbins
shooting a closing 65 to share fourth place with Leta Lindley and
Pearl Sinn.
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